15 - Harrowing Journey
The prince burst into his borrowed room. With a lash of a hind hoof, he kicked the door shut, granting some modicum of privacy. They never did the 'fun thing for everyone else', with half the party ready to retire, but that was alright in his book.
He tapped at his chin as the other hoof took off his special beanie to put away. That was when he noticed he had sticky hooves. Some earth ponies had them really good, some less so. It sorta made sense that a video-game loving little colt would develop sticky hooves.
The selective adhesion made it easy to grab his beanie and set it away with one hoof and no use of his mouth. Why didn't all not-unicorns get sticky hooves? Some seemed perfectly content using their mouth on everything. If he were in charge, he'd make it a mandatory class in kindergarten. No foal would escape without having learned to use a key with only their hoof.
That was, perhaps, one of the reasons he was not in charge. He smiled a little, easily able to realize his 'master plan' would annoy a lot of ponies. "They'd get used to it after a generation or two," he joked to himself as he looked around Button Mash's stuff. "Where is that colt?"
Because of the nature of Equestria, that is when he returned. That was also when he saw his double.
That was when the prince became grey suddenly and collapsed, holding his head between two hooves as the world violently heaved around him.
"Who are you?" asked the little colt as he flopped down from his window sill to the floor, gracelessly thumping chest first to the ground. "Why are you in my room?"
The prince grumbled something, filled with all the intelligence he felt like mustering while reeling from the whiplash of being evicted from his disguise.
His lack of returned speech was enough to make Button forget he was there. The colt's face perked up into a half-smile. "Bet they didn't even miss me..." He tip-toed towards the door and put an ear against it, listening.
The prince sat up slowly, squinting at the world through blurry eyes. He hated being kicked out of a shape; just the worst.
"Huh? Why are you in my room?" His presence in Button's room was enough to gently trip over his sense of wrong. "Who are you?" Button turned to regard the prince again.
The prince shook his head slowly, letting the throbbing pain ebb away slowly. The silence was enough for Button to start forgetting him again without movement to trigger his interest. "Stupid family night. Brother promised to get revenge." He put a small hoof to his equally small face, grinning. "But I won!"
That was revenge? "He just took some popcorn."
"Huh?" Button blinked, noticing the prince for the third time. "What? Who are you? Why are you in my room?"
The prince dared a little smile. "Hiya. I'm the pony Pinkie borrowed the game for."
"Oh yeah! That old thing. How was it? Bet you didn't get past the ogre." Button smirked viciously.
"I... didn't get to the ogre," admitted the prince to Button's triumphant cry. "I was moving your wagon and ended up taking your place."
"My place?" Button tilted his head, looking confused. "I'm right here."
"You weren't before, so here I was, being you."
Button squinted at the prince. "Huh... Cool!" He perked right up. "Can you take my place in school? That'd be awesome!"
The prince shook a dull grey hoof. "Nah. I get called where I'm needed, not where it's mildly convenient."
Button scrunched up his nose. "Oh, well, uh... Thanks for filling in. Did you say anything stupid while you were me?"
"I told your mother I was happy to be with her and your family. Oh." He reached into his pocket and produced a box.
Button was on it instantly. "Ooo! Squishy-pops!" He claimed it without delay with a sticky hoof. "You are officially the best!" He noticed it was already open. "Did you try some?"
"I never had a chance. I did give a few to your brother."
Button's jovial expression cracked. "Ugh, losing points there pal." He pointed at one of the prince's hoof. "You have to try at least one though. They're the best."
The prince held out a hoof towards Button and soon a few sugary treats landed on it. "Are they that good?"
"Maybe not the best thing ever, but the best in the movies for sure." Button shook out some for himself and popped them in his little snout, chewing noisily. "Mmm."
That was when it clicked. He really was being paid in food. Popcorn and a few Squishy-Pops. He decided to accept that. Spending time with Button's family was far from that offputting. "So, just so you know, you will forget me."
"Huh? This like a crazy super power or something?" Button tilted his head up at the prince. "Besides, if I'll forget you, then I won't know this, so why even tell me?"
The prince blinked slowly, his logic ruined by the small colt. "I was just trying to be polite."
"Thanks for the thought." Button suddenly noticed his beanie on the ground. "Oops." He picked up the beanie that the prince had left there and casually added it to his collection. "So he didn't get any revenge at all?"
"He tried to embarrass you in front of the crusaders." The prince shrugged softly. "It didn't last long. Mom shut him down."
"Yeah, that sounds like her." He smiled a little. "Maybe I was scared about nothing... Or maybe you were all nice and stuff and that threw him off the trail. You did share squishy-pops with him. Also, crusaders?"
"Cutie Mark Crusaders?" The prince gestured vaguely, trying to imply the three fillies. "Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo?"
"Oh, them." He shrugged a little. "I just call them by their name, not 'crusaders'. That's, you know, their job. Isn't that weird, having jobs when you're that young? I don't want a job yet, unless it was, like, super-mega-cool!"
"Like... being a spy?"
Buttons hopped in place. "Yeah! Or maybe an astronaut or something. But a... whatever the crusaders thing is? Pass. Can you get paid for playing videogames? I'm good at that. I could play them all day and make tons of bits!" He let out a dreamy little sigh, clopping his forehooves together.
"What if you made games?" the prince suggested with a little smile.
Button blinked slowly at that. "You can do that?"
"Someone has to. Why not you? I bet you could make pretty awesome games."
Button stepped from one hoof to the next, prancing in place with a thoughtful look. "Huh... That would be pretty cool. Button Mash's Adventure! Now with five secret levels and branching endings! Can you find them all?!"
The prince smiled at that, hoping some shred of the conversation would last beyond his presence. An idea struck him. "You'd better write this down for yourself. Remember, I'll be gone and you'll forget all of this."
Button frowned at the prince. "Why? Can't you just... not use that super power?"
"It's stuck on," admitted the prince with a shrug. "The only pony it doesn't hit is Pinkie Pie."
"That figures." He rolled his eyes as he ambled in his foal-like way to grab a pen and a paper. Despite his sticky hooves, he held the pen in his mouth and scribbled busily. "That explains why she came asking about the game. Are you friends?"
That was when he realized she really was his first friend in the pony world. "Yeah... My best friend." Easy to be best when you were also only. "I'd love to be your friend too, but, you know."
"You're an adult." He stuck out a tongue at the prince. "And that whole 'you'll forget everything!' thing."
There were both of those things, but... "Who cares if I'm an adult? An adult can't talk to a foal?"
"We're doing that right now." Button dropped the pen onto the paper and turned around to face the prince. "But talking is not the same as being buds. I mean, if you were my brother or uncle or grandpa or something maybe? Can you take my brother's place? Then we can hang out, and you'll let me try your guitar! That'd be great."
It was one of the many little rules society put in place. This one, at least, had some root in the hard reality that some sick people did bad things to little people. He wasn't one of those! "Well... if you see me somehow, you're welcome to say hi and hang out a little. Oh!" He perked up in place. "Do you have any fighting games?"
"Fighting... yeah!" Button scrambled off to return with a new arcade cabinet. "Barn Combat II!" He gestured at it grandly. "Now with a roster of nine fighters. I'm best at Hayseed."
The prince perked his ears at the cabinet. It was a ponified version of Street Fighter, which became all the more obvious when it turned on. The characters were mostly quadruped, though there was one bipedal cat in the ranks.
"Did you want to challenge me?" Button puffed out his chest looking mighty proud. "I'll kick your tail, fair warning."
The prince smiled at the idea. "I'd love to, but you can't play Hayseed." He didn't want to be thrashed that badly. He reached for one of the joysticks. "I never tried this one before, but I've played fighting games before."
"You'll get the hang of it while I beat you up. I'm doing it out of love, promise." He pressed the start button and the match began.
"You have to try." Pinkie frowned softly. "Even if you can't see him, you know what I told you about him, so put that big brain to work!"
Twilight rolled a hoof. "I know what you've told me, but I have no supporting evidence. Am I supposed to create a cure for... ever being forgotten? How would that work?"
Pinkie snorted softly. "Not like ever being forgotten ever. That would be kinda funny. Just his specific curse. You know, being forgotten mid-conversation if he goes quiet. That's not normal, Twilight. That. Is. Not. Normal." She threw her forehooves wide to emphasize this. "He needs our help."
"And you insist I've spoken to him before?" She raised a brow. "Because I remember you taking me to a hotel where nothing was happening."
"You did," sighed out Pinkie. "You and Spike both talked to him, and he was responding and it was great, until you forgot him."
Twilight looked skeptical. "For this moment, let's assume everything is just as you said it. This... is just one of those odd Pinkie things. Alright, you want me to apply science to it, but last time I tried that, it ended poorly. I thought we had agreed that science and Pinkie don't get along?"
Pinkie shook her head quickly. "This isn't a 'me' thing. This is a 'him' thing. You're helping him out! Nothing bad will happen!"
Twilight pulled a book off a shelf with her magic, holding up a hoof just in time for the spine to touch it, then get set on the table beside her. "Taking this at face value, I need something to work with. Since I can't approach him myself, you'll have to. Bring me some samples."
"Samples, got it!" Pinkie bounced in place, smiling with triumphant happiness. "What kinda samples?"
"The more the better." Twilight rolled a hoof. "Take a picture, get some hair, get a lock of his mane, get him to spit for you. Hay, I'll take urinary and stool samples if you can manage it. The more material you give to me, the more things I can search for. This reminds me..."
A hypodermic needle floated into view, set with Twilight's magic on the same table. "Do you know how to use one of these?"
Pinkie blinked softly at it. "No, but I'm listening."
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Well that went well. I do wonder if this will help Twilight to understand what is going on or will her test results come up very interesting.
Wait a second I wonder if he could replace Celestia and how she would enjoy having an easy body double so she can occasionally duck out of stuff she doesn't enjoy.
Run.
9352852
well he is an alicorn so perhaps
Well if she has poofy hair then I would ask her what she was doing, but if her hair was flat... *shudders*
For Pinkie or Twilight - close your eyes and take one for the team, running won't do any good anyway.1
1Unless it's straight-haired Pinkie or frizzed-hair Twilight. Running still won't do any good, but it's better to try and make it to Princess Celestia.2
2Even if it's pink-haired Celestia.
Prince's reaction: derpicdn.net/img/2018/3/24/1689139/large.png
"
"uhhh hi Pinkie, whats that for?
Anyway, hmm I'm curious to see what Twilight has planned, and how far the Prince's curse goes. Do you think Twilight will be able to study the samples of them, or will she forget what the samples are and clean her test tubes without realizing what she's done. I guess it depends on how strong the curse is.
Say something along the lines of "What you got there bud?" while trying to get it from her and then try to distract her with a side quest. That should buy me enough time to dispose of it
Huh. It's like there's a cooldown process involved; notice the Prince enough times and he sticks. That or he's just maintaining momentum on that third go. I suppose we'll see how this goes. ("Who are you? Why are you in my room?" "Who did you think you were playing?" "The AI, duh.")
Also, Pinkie with a needle.
There's a mental image. And it raises the question of whether any bits of the Prince carry that same Lethean curse, and if so, which ones. Hopefully not the stool samples. 
Also, something got by the localization team:
Weird.
9354765
Are you calling my spelling weird?!
Yeah...I'm gonna skedaddle out of here now.
To be honest though, given how enthusiastic Pinkie is, I'm kind of worried Pinkie might try to join Prince when he goes to the bathroom for some 'samples'...eww. It's for science yes, but still eww...
Or ask him to wear an adult diaper to make it slightly less awkward for her.
9356107
I am a little confused. What would make you think I, or the story with these ratings, would go into any amount of details?
9356137
Eh, I just like to speculate and throw out theories for laughs. It's sort of my thing lately.
9356162
The truth is pretty boring: https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/infections/how-should-i-collect-and-store-a-stool-faeces-sample/
Pass him a potty, send him into the bathroom, then begin victory music.
9356172
Oh I know that, what I meant is that when it comes to Pinkie Pie, her approach to matters is unlikely to be as mundane and clinical though in the context of this story, she's been pretty tame(relatively speaking) when compared to some of her wackier shenanigans.
Guess I'll just have to wait and see if Prince wakes up with Pinkie holding a pair of scissors close to face...yeah, my mind is twisted at times.
That has to be a record for length of time interacting with the substituted.
Button Mash is...surprisingly personable. As an adult with a lot of second cousins who are little kids and who interacts with them a lot, I try to not talk down to them much. Kids are naive and inexperienced, and sometimes they really do need talking down to, but they're still people. I can see a lot of myself in the Prince at that point, and Button even mentions his surprise at how casual the Prince is talking to him.
It just occurred to me that he’s like the silence from Doctor Who.
Man I just wish Error gets to be pals with Button.
I'm absolutely digging this right now. The concept of someone you never see until they call for you, or better yet, cover for you, is absolutely amazing.
became
Anyway, I tried reading this before, but I think I found the first chapters to be disorienting. I've picked it up again, and its not disorienting. I'm enjoying it so far. It reminds me a little of {Background Pony}. Never did hear about whether that trip to the spa previously worked out or whether he was forgotten there.
Yes, pictures. And if the picture cannot be focused on, just use it to hide secret doors, then instantly forget that it exists! Or build a labyrinth of erroring portraits and watch all the ponies be confused as to why they're lost?